The equity investment came from Leumi Partners and existing investor, Oaktree
London FinTech firm, EZBob Ltd. closed its series C investment round with a £20 million equity investment from Leumi Partners and existing investor, Oaktree Capital Management.
The company aims to increase its lending capacity and further develop its technology platform with this capital. In the last 12 months, EZBob Ltd. has announced a partnership with Alibaba.com, as well as the first loan guarantee agreement in the UK with the European Investment Fund (EIF) to the value of £40 million. The UK government-supported Angel Co-Fund is also an investor in the company.
Tomer Guriel, CEO and co-founder of EZBob Ltd., said: “This latest investment will further accelerate our growth plans and enable us to continue to develop our proprietary business lending platform to address more of the UK’s business lending needs.”
Since its launch in 2011, EZBob Ltd. has provided over £100 million funding and over 8,500 loans to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK through its trading brands Everline and EZbob.
Speaking about this funding round, Guriel added: “Raising investment from a leading global bank in digitalisation and an active investor within tech is proof of our game-changing technology and unique approach to business lending,” Guriel added.
Bank Leumi is one of Israel’s largest banks, with a history of investing in technology. Professor Danny Tsiddon, chairman of Leumi Partners and Leumi Group deputy CEO, added: “This is Leumi’s first major investment in FinTech outside of Israel. Business e-lending is rapidly growing around the world and is attracting global banks, who see its potential and allocate more and more resources towards it. It is only natural that a bank which specialises in Israeli high-tech and spearheads innovation has chosen to invest in this leading FinTech start-up.”
Establishing another first, the company recently became Oaktree Capital Management’s first business e-lending investment in Europe. Guriel stated: “Oaktree’s additional investment is an endorsement of the management team, the business’ scalability and the appetite for a fresh approach to business finance in the UK. We’ve already experienced significant growth in the last 12 months and the market opportunity remains huge.”
Limited companies, limited liability partnerships, partnerships and sole traders can access £3,000 to £120,000 of working capital for up to 24 months.
